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Re: [LUG] Making sure your memories are safe

 

Robin Cornelius wrote:
> On 4/2/07, Alan <ap@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> AFAICT, there is no format or archived media that cannot be read today,
>>> even ones that are already 50 years old. There will always be
>>> archivists and historians who will seek to use the old formats and that
>>> can keep the codec alive. As long as one person is interested in the
>>> format, the source code remains available and it can be updated to
>>> whatever is around at the time.
>>>
>> so can you help me get some photos off some 5.25" floppies I have stored
>> away?
>>
> 
> Do you have a 5.25" drive? i assume not as you are asking. I do have
> one somewhere here

I do. But don't have a controller I can plug into a modern computer though.


> 
>> The format may be OK, but the media may not. And I'm old enough to have
>> some 8" floppies with interesting stuff on them.
>>
> 
> My BBC micro games still run of the 5.25" disk, as long as you didn't
> bend them in half they were not that bad.
> 
> Might have somthing to do with the data density is so low you can
> almost see the magnetic bits with the naked eye (joking)
> 
> 
And you're right, jokes aside. And if your eyesight isn't all that good, 
then you could at least feel the bumps.

The point was that you really couldn't expect to be able to have the 
mechanical technology to recover all that old stuff stored away. The 
software, formats, and codecs aren't the issue. You still need a slot to 
plug the stuff into.

Anyone got any classics on Beta they'd like to play some rainy evening?


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